Outplayed and outcoached, Duke somehow walked away with a win over Wisconsin in the NCAA tournament final. The memes hardly have one good thing to say about the Blue Devils, and for good reason.

While blaming officials and referees isn’t the classiest way to go out, sometimes there’s no other option. Yes, Duke have a good defense, but it was good because it was allowed to be physical. Wisconsin? Every touch or slightly breathing on a Duke player sent a Blue Devil to the line. The 16-3 discrepancy in free throws between the teams wasn’t because Duke attacked the basket a lot more. It had to do with the guys officiating the game and how easily they made calls in just one direction.

There were the couple of insane mistakes when it came to Justise Winslow; stepping out of bounds (which everyone saw but the refs) and being the last man to touch the ball that went out of bounds, and yet remained in Duke’s hands.

It doesn’t matter. Duke won the game and gave Coach K a fifth title ring. It won’t matter that he didn’t deserve it, not in this game. It won’t matter who the referees called the game. Duke are the champions, and that’s how history will be shaped and written. Everything else is for the sake of argument, but won’t really make a difference.